Monaco proves to be a hard road for Hamilton

MONACO (Reuters) - The start was poor, his pitstop disappointing and even the numbers on the pit board provided a slap in the face for Lewis Hamilton at his favourite Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.

McLaren's 2008 world champion started the race at his favourite track in third place on the grid and ended the afternoon fifth, the two places lost in the pits.

Before the weekend the 27-year-old had been the favourite but Hamilton left the paddock contemplating a season that now boasts an unprecedented six different winners from six races without his name being among them.

"I really dislike going backwards, but nonetheless we came away with some points and there are many more races ahead of us, so we have to try and keep our heads up and keep pushing," he told reporters.

"My start was one of the worst I've had in a long time. I just don't understand why it happens when the two guys ahead of me, and some behind, got perfect starts," added the Briton, now fourth in the championship and 13 points off the lead.

"After that I don't know how long my pit stop was, it was quite a long time, but I wasn't able to keep up with Alonso, and then Sebastian got me in his pitstop, and then it's impossible to overtake."

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finished third in the race, won by Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber, to take the overall lead in the standings while double world champion Sebastian Vettel was fourth for Red Bull.

Both got ahead of Hamilton thanks to his pitstop being longer than theirs.

Hamilton said the pitboard numbers indicating his position and times had only added to his woes.

"The guys holding the pitboards, particularly at the beginning coming out of the last corner, about two or three of the slips fell out and hit me in the front of my helmet," he said.

"I don't know if it happened to anyone else, but I was like 'This is getting ridiculous', and they kept dropping them and dropping them, and there were some on the floor.

"I was saying 'Someone do something about it' because my visor was getting worse and worse. They need to do a better job in securing those."

Hamilton also struggled in the low-speed corners, while looking after the rear tyres was hard work.

He still had a better time than team mate Jenson Button, the 2009 winner in Monaco on his way to winning the title that season, who failed to finish due to a collision and a puncture but was still classified 16th.

"At least I didn't do the last eight laps and feel pain for even longer," said Button, who started 12th and spent much of the race battling Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham.